How Good Does Wills Look Here?

Wills changed in his career from an exciting to a defensive boxer puncher with rough house tactics in his later 30s. In his first or second fight with Langford he knocked Langford down about 7 times in the first I believe. He's scored countless bodyshot KOs over Langford (twice I think), Fulton and Norfolk.

Here you can see he has power with the way he shifts his weight but he's far more conservative with the amount of punches he throws. You can see he has straight short punches with the right and left and is very effective. You can see he rarely gets hit and very strong in the clinches.

Against Uzcudun he seemed to have slowed allot and lost his reactions, left himself out to dry, got ko'd. He'd probably given up on the chance of his title shot by this stage though and was 37

If you don't rate him from these clips, you probably don't understand the techniques he's using and how effective he is with them. Either that or you just want to disparage him because you're a Dempsey fan.

 

Like saying Wills cheap shoted Norfolk ? :shock: The reports I've read say Wills dominated the fight from the start and stopped him decisively ..

 

Wills already beat a younger better version of Langford multiple times before Fulton even fought him.

Wills then made Fulton call him daddy. Destroyed a prime Fulton

 

Wills look very stiff-armed to me? And not a natural instinctive fighter at all a bit programmed - his style was all about anticipation I guess but he is reacting to what fighters do to him rather than taking charge of the situation? And Wills, for me, doesn't look hugely better than Firpo - they look well matched size and strength wise (possibly Firpo has more raw strength, or at least relies on it slightly more than Wills) but hey are of a similar speed and Wills, although looking like he wants to time him a bit more, doesn't seem to have the ability to time him properly, hence he is continually falling into clinches with him - he doesn't seem to have the natural balance or fluidity to take advantage of Firpo's short comings the way Dempsey did? If anything Wills looks as awkward and clumsy as Firpo - considering at least Firpo didn't seem to give a damn how he looked in there? Wills you could tell wants to have a little more thought about what he's doing - but he doesn't actually show any great mastery of Firpo in his efforts - Dempsey in comparison looked on a whole different level to Firpo and made him look like the novice he was a bit like, say, Lennox Lewis made Michael Grant look like a novice back in the day. But Wills? Maybe he was just one of those guys who fought down to the level of his opponent or something? To be fair how much was he holding in reserve? When he put Firpo down that looked like a BIG punch (even though in was whilst the ref was trying to break them) but why did he only produce one shot like that in the whole footage when Dempsey produced probably 50-odd shots like that in a comparable length of footage against the same guy?

 

But he beat Langford in his near prime when he was 32 though and easily beat him countless times before Fulton won his cuts stoppage win. But according to your logic none of that counts because Fulton was the first to stop him.

I'm sure I've read from a report or Wills account this was a body shot.

Neither were exciting but both were dominant displays. Anyway knocking a dominant display has a bit of an agenda me thinks.

Nothing defensive, I gave you an insight into Wills career but we all know you're nothing more than an agenda ridden troll when it comes to Wills as a way to protect your hero Dempsey.

It's painfully transparent you haven't started this thread to learn from those that no more than yourself on the topic, but to deride Wills.

 

Yet Wills easily won every minute of every round. You seem to be missing something here.

 

So fultons prime only lasted one year in 1918? He wasn't in his prime in 1920? :think

You have to understand wills was still a young green fighter in 1914 tangling with the great Sam Langford, rated number 1, in the world. The fact he fought on even terms with Sam at this state of his career and managed to beat him a year later is quite the achievement. It goes without saying wills beat a younger better version of Langford than Fulton did. Once wills became a seasoned pro and hit his prime, he began to batter Langford consistently.

And don't forget, wills destroyed a prime Fulton in 3 rounds. Broke 3 of his ribs. Made Fulton Cry

 

Aside from two terrific come from behind KO wins it appears Wills dominated his series w Langford almost from the start when Langford was still a pretty dangerous and avoided fighter .. I really don't see how that can be questioned .. look at the record of their fights .. as far as Fulton goes, it appears he was a pretty fair and dangerous fighter , tall, well conditioned with a solid jab and good power but chimney ... Dempsey got to him extremely fast and Wills managed to get him as well in a more competitive couple of rounds ..

 

I am not a fan of drawing huge inferences about fighters from this era, from a few tiny s****s of film.

We would need quality footage of half a dozen or so of wills fights, to comprehensively understand him as a fighter, and even then we would likely miss a few tricks.